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An understudy made his Metropolitan Opera debut over the weekend – all while wearing jeans and sneakers. Jen Maxfield reports. (Published Tuesday, April 26, 2016)

An understudy made his Metropolitan Opera debut over the weekend – all while wearing jeans and sneakers.

Tenor Francesco Anile surprised theatergoers at New York City's Lincoln Center during a staging of Othello after the performer in the title role was unable to continue singing in the final acts. The change was so sudden that Anile was unable to change clothes, taking the stage in garb more befitting a modern New Yorker than a 16th century Venetian general.

A stage director ran into the green room, gave Anile a black cape and told him, "Francesco, come. We need you to sing."

Anile said he didn't have time to get into costume, so he went out onto the stage wearing his street clothes and cape. He belted out the final minutes on the side of the stage as Antonenko walked the part and lip-synched.

Hibla Gerzmava, the Russian soprano playing Othello’s wife Desdemona, said the sudden change took her for as much of a loop as it did Anile and the audience. But she applauded him for being able to step in.

"For Francesco, I say ‘Bravissimo’ because it’s difficult for him,” she said.

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